Page 5 of Pushed

'I don't mind,'in Cassie terms, actually means—'Fine, but don't think I'm doing this forever.'Her subtle demeanor and flat tone was all I needed to see what she really meant.

Stepping over the cracked and broken sidewalk, I turned up Arnold Ave, only a mile or so from my apartment. Kicking a small rock, I watched it bump and bobble over the heaves in the pavement, rolling to a stop a few feet ahead.

My apartment wasn't in a bad neighborhood, but it wasn't in the best either. Shit went down around where I lived, most of it minor or domestic between a husband and wife, sometimes a car theft, nothing too crazy.

But that didn't mean I wasn't careful. Reaching into my purse, I felt the small bottle of mace I had stashed inside.

Good, still there.

A deep, muffled grunt echoed out of the alley beside me, catching my attention.

What the hell was that?

Stopping short, I stood quiet and listened, staring into the darkness. There was a shuffling sound, followed by yelling that swept between two people. I couldn't make out what was being said, but the voices were angry, teased with hollow rage.

What's going on?Leaning closer to the sounds, I started forward, then halted to a stop.

It's none of your business, just keep moving.

Except my feet kept going, moving closer and closer to the sounds. It was as if I hadn't heard what my head was saying and just absently ignored it.

Trying to reason with myself wasn't enough to stop me from wondering or make me heed my own words and take my own advice.

Whatever was going on sounded heated and I was being tugged in the direction of the sounds. Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn in, wanting to see, wanting to know what was happening behind closed doors.

There were loud crashes, deep groans and heavy grunts. Then it all stopped, a moment of silence embraced the alley. It wasn't a long silence, only a breath or two before someone started speaking again, but that was it, one voice.

The two voices had stifled, leaving a single growl. One sound, one set of words, just one.

I have to see what's happening.

Taking soft steps into the alley, I quietly inched my way over to a window that was lit up bright, where the sounds seemed to be emanating from.

The words grew in volume as the sole voice dropped an octave, slicing through the thick night air. “You did this! I'm not going to tell you I'm sorry, I'm not going to wish that you had chosen different. It's done. You just said all I needed to hear.”

Pressing myself against the brick building, I felt the cold stone on the back of my neck as I shut my eyes.It's none of your business, Perri. . .

A heavy thud ricocheted off the hard floor inside, forcing my eyes to snap open.

One look, that's it, just one.

Peeking my head into the window, my breathing stopped completely. If I could rewind time, take back my steps and just continue on my path home. . . I would have.

If only I could.

I shouldn't have let my curiosity get the best of me, I shouldn't have been so absent minded and intrude the way I had. I thought I needed to see what was going on.

But that was wrong, I had just made the biggest mistake of my life.

My eyes enlarged, lids thinning as I watched the scene unfold behind the glass.

A large man with deep black hair was hovering over another guy on the floor. Slipping his gray blazer off his arms, he rolled his sleeves up to his elbows as he kept speaking to the man on the ground.

“I won't pretend anymore, who I am will get me killed. But what you did. . .” Crouching down, he cracked his knuckles against his bear-sized palms. “What you did is unforgivable. I'm doing the world a favor, all you can hope is that the devil hasn't already signed his name to your papers.”

The man on his back had his hands up, holding them in front of his face. He wasn't speaking, simply shaking his head back and forth in protest. His lip was bleeding, a thin trickle of blood leaked tear shaped droplets onto the floor from a deep gouge across his cheek.

Sitting on his chest, the man with black hair lowered his hands, curling them around his throat. His arms tensed as the muscles rolled up in firm lumps, riddled with thick veins that pulsed under the skin.

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